Overview
- Leading clinicians say life expectancy gains have outpaced improvements in healthy, independent years, creating a persistent 'decade lost' when many require constant help.
- Experts call for a prevention-first approach that begins earlier in life, with recommendations ranging from lifelong management starting in young adulthood to formal functional screening from about age 50.
- France’s rollout of the WHO ICOPE model and digital monitoring is presented as a working example, with roughly 150,000 older adults currently followed under the program.
- Researchers and clinicians are rapidly integrating biological-age measures, omics and AI into care plans to tailor prevention, but they stress these tools need rigorous validation before wide clinical use.
- Practical steps stressed by specialists include seven daily lifestyle pillars—stress control, social ties, sleep, no smoking, moderate alcohol, healthy nutrition and exercise—to help preserve autonomy and reduce social and economic care burdens.